Is There Room for Your Car in the Garage?

(ARA) – Despite the proliferation of two- and even three-car garages, families seem to be in perpetual need of more storage space. Often it’s the family car that gets left out in the elements to make room for toys, sporting goods, lawn mowers and other items that take up valuable space.
In fact, according to a study done in 2003 by Peachtree Consulting Group of Atlanta, 40 percent of people who own a garage park in their driveway. “People are parking their $30,000 cars in the driveway, while the space in their garage is being occupied by a sofa that’s losing its stuffing, unused toys and plain old junk,” points out Kevin Shaha, president of Racor, a company that specializes in garage storage solutions.

Here are some tips for tackling the final frontier of home organization – the garage – and getting your car back where it belongs. First, get rid of anything you know you don’t need. Host a garage sale to get rid of the “good” stuff, and take a trip to the dump to dispose of broken, unusable items. Then take a look around to see what’s left and figure out how to organize it.

Hooks on the wall are good for some items, like bikes and tools, but what about heavier, bulkier things that you can’t hang on the wall? Head for the heights with a new garage storage device from Racor that takes advantage of all the space overhead.

The HeavyLift system lets you store virtually anything out of the way and off the floor by making use of the space on the ceiling. “You can safely store up to 250 pounds on the HeavyLift,” says Shaha. “Use it to store out-of-season equipment and tools, or use it as year ‘round storage for file boxes or other stuff that you don’t use frequently, but don’t want to get rid of.”

The easy-to-install kit includes heavy duty steel support beams which you secure to the rafters, a 4-foot by 4-foot platform, a winding axle, enough vinyl-coated steel cable for a ceiling up to 12 feet high, a hand crank and all the mounting hardware.

All you have to do is screw the support beams into the ceiling, attach the winding axle with the enclosed hardware, thread the steel cable through the support beam wheels and attach to the platform, then use the provided hand crank to raise and lower the platform.

That means you won’t be climbing a tall ladder trying to balance a heavy box – an invitation to injury. The American Ladder Institute reports that each year, more than a half million people are injured and 165,000 visit emergency rooms after falling off ladders. With a HeavyLift system, you just lower the platform, find what you need and then crank it back up to the ceiling.

Getting seldom-used items off the floor and off of valuable shelf space in your garage means you can make better use of the room you do have. You can keep things you use frequently, like cleaners, tools and auto accessories within easy reach.

The HeavyLift is available through retailers nationwide, the Sears catalog, Brookstone Catalog, TruValue Stores, Blaines, Improvements Catalog, ACE Stores, Chase Pitkin and hundreds of online retailers and www.racorinc.com. Visit the company’s Web site to see all their storage solutions, or call (800) 783-7725 for more information.